RICHARD Light's latest exhibition puts him back on the creative trail with a series of 14 prints that possess a fairytale quality.

He tells me that a quote from film director David Lynch could well describe the storyline of the exhibition: "Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go deeper."

On show in the Intro Bar Gallery at Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre until February 13, Richard's A Visionary Journey through the Lake District is the highly imaginative result of his meanderings through the region with an eye seeking to elaborate into his art what might be on the margins of his vision.

He has tried to portray a series of actual journeys - walks and swims through forests, tarns, and hills - with artist’s eyes.

"The origins of the project date back to 1994 when I lived at Tarnside, near Crosthwaite, and walked the landscape around Whitbarrow Scar," explains Richard. "Since then I have developed the series using montage to combine painting, etching, screen-printing, and photography."

Richard says the desire to produce a set of prints has risen in several different ways, including memories of a series of prints by John Martin, which he made to illustrate Milton’s Paradise Lost:

"Images of these were often in my mind as I worked on the prints," he adds."Though my prints are not connected to a work of literature or a religion as his were."

Also influential was the technique of story-boarding he used when making his own films which led to series of still images. And his fondness for the tradition of British surrealism that places the unexpected object in a familiar context or vice versa is an intriguing ingredient definitely detectable in his work.

Using montage Richard - whose been a member of the respected Green Door studios collective since 1995 - has distilled his experiences into this fascinating and engaging series in which the restrained colour intensifies the drama and mystery of the landscapes and the events he has depicted.

Richard's last exhibition was Swimming Home in 2011 at the Brewery's Sugar Store Gallery, part of a collaboration project with another well-known GD artist Paul Clark. The online blog was awarded Tate online best blog, 2010.